Education
Virtual Real World Physics by Ken Rigby
[Mar 03, 2008]
Physics in a Virtual World is all about how objects move and react. It's not just how things look, but how they behave and interact. In many of today's Virtual Real World environments, objects just don't seem to act the way you'd want or expect. Most of the action is limited to pre-scripted or 'canned' animations.
VRWs have a good visual environment, but one with a missing sense of dynamic realism to make the experience truly immersive. Until now, only limited software physics has been integrated into 3D environments. That means physics computation has been handled by the general purpose CPU which is already burdened with the ever increasing demands of today's advanced systems including the VRW environment logic and AI.
Meanwhile, the highly specialized graphics processor is fully engaged with handling the rendering requirements of the pipeline visuals at interactive frame rates and X-Fi audio processors feature an SRC engine that is so precise that any audio resolution is converted to any other resolution. X-Fi CMSS-3D delivers incredibly realistic surround sound! This enables a truly fantastic audio experience within the VRW environment.
As a result, the physics has been limited to a few objects in a scene, one-off "effects", or visual trickery that just mimics real world physics. Now for the first time, a dedicated physics processor can deliver the computing horsepower necessary to enable true, advanced physics in the VRW environment.